I spent Friday and Saturday attending She’s Geeky – Twin Cities at the Science Museum of Minnesota (one of my happy places in the Twin Cities which helps with the whole being an introvert at a conference thing). I’ve been to a fair share of conferences – regimented, maybe you learn something, but mostly you don’t. I’d never been to an unconference. She’s Geeky felt more interactive, comfortable, and relevant. It felt like a much needed personal development weekend.

I spent two days surrounded by an amazingly diverse group of wonderfully geeky women. On Friday, I admit, I left exhausted and having some pangs of inadequacy. Here were all these great, smart, successful geeks and did I really measure up? I left wondering if I actually knew enough and had the right skills to call myself a real geek.

As I headed to She’s Geeky on Saturday morning, I made my usual drive-to-work morning phone call to my Mom. I talked to her about the conference and admitted that I was feeling unsettled.  Within a few minutes, she reminded me that I have an amazing geek for a mother and that degrees and programming skills aren’t all that makes a geek.

I hit the conference with a motherly-induced spark of self-confidence and spent an amazing day with a wondrous group of geeky women – learning, commiserating, being inspired, and benefiting from their knowledge and experience (and fashion sense). I was reminded of exactly why I love being a geek and that geeky women are fabulous company. They also gave me quite a few good ideas (including a few that are already in process).

Thank you, She’s Geeky, and all the amazing women that I met this weekend. I can’t wait to get to know my new geeky pals better and I’m already excited for the 2011 She’s Geeky – Twin Cities!

Top Ten Ways You Know You Married a Starcraft Fanboy

1. He pre-orders the Collector’s Edition for himself and the regular edition for you (even though your computer isn’t quite up to snuff) because he wants you to experience his joy.

2. He wakes early on release day and hovers over the online delivery notification briefly freaking out when the package is classified as undeliverable for 15 minutes.

3. He liberates the delivery from the office before you get home, before eating lunch, and well before anything else.

4. Your mid-day IM is interrupted with “OH MY GOD THE INTRO. CANNOT TALK” and he stops talking. Completely.

5. Your typical late afternoon mushy phone call is greeted with “Can’t talk. Saving settlers!”

6. When you offer to take him out to grab dinner, he responds with, “But honey, I have to save the train. The train is being robbed. Don’t you understand? THE TRAIN IS BEING ROBBED.”

7. He starts telling you all about the life of his new friend Jim Raynor, while you’re lying in bed. (He also carries around his dog tags.)

8. He tells you that he’s been waiting nearly half his life for this – and he’s actually telling the truth.

9. While his friends jump in to beat the game in Hard Mode, he finishes the campaign on Normal because he actually cares about the storyline.

10. He manages to jam as much SC2 as possible into the 2.5 day period between Release Day and leaving for the internet-free family reunion not just because it’s new, shiny, and the best thing since… well, since the original, but also because he refuses to play offline and miss getting credit for in-game achievements.

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I can’t say that I understand it. I haven’t ever really excitedly anticipated the release of anything like this. Yes, I went out at 3 am to get my iPhone 3G, but his glee is far beyond that. While I can’t necessarily relate, it is fun to watch how giddy he’s been. In the right circumstances, we’re all just overgrown kids after all. I still jump in puddles, run around the house with my cat, and splash in the tub. He just happens to be a Blizzard fanboy. I’m just fine with that.

I love you, ya big kid.